A Day In Diagon Alley
by usmccanthem
Summary: One-shot off "A Canadian Interloper" that takes place on Anna's first time in Diagon Alley. Led by the stern witch, Minerva McGonagall, and an interesting meeting with Mr. Olivander; Anna manages to get everything she needs to start the year off right.


**Author's Note: So this is just a little branch off from "The Canadian Interloper" (I like being able to cite that, haha) which describes Anna's first time in Diagon Alley. It's not perfect, but it's something that has been nagging me, which meant I was distracted from the main story. SORRY! I will be posting up chapter 6 in the next couple of days, promise. **

**Please enjoy and don't hate me! R & R!**

**Cheers,**

**USMCcAnthem**

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**A Day In Diagon Alley**

Anna and her parents walked the crowded streets following a curious woman who wore a magnificent emerald green cloak. Her pointed hat sat sideways on her perfectly slicked back hair which was held together by a tight bun. The woman in question had met them early that day at their hotel and was leading them toward what she had called in her Scottish accent "The Leaky Cauldron."

None of the three family members had heard of such a place, but Ken and Anna were excited to see the pub. They had different reasons for being excited, for Ken he wanted to see, smell and taste the difference of a wizarding pub to the English pubs he had visited as a youth; for Anna she was just excited to finally be allowed into a pub – as anyone under 19 wasn't allowed in pubs in BC – and it would be her first memory of it. Kathy however, was of no rush to enter the pub, seeing as she hadn't desired to enter one since the Cherry Brandy incident in '90. So she walked closer to the back of the group, jostled from side to side on the crowded London streets. She hoped that this McGonagall woman knew where she was going, as she didn't wish to be lost in such a populous and foreign city.

Suddenly McGonagall stopped, looking outlandish against the drab colours that the people around her wore, in front of a dilapidated building. Anna gasped, as she did not see what her parents saw. To her, the dilapidated building was slightly shabby, but seeming to be teeming with energy. It was like a pulse of... force that came off the building that gave it an aura of Magic. She and her parents joined McGonagall in front of the building, Ken and Kathy looking bewildered, and Anna seeming to be awestruck.

McGonagall waved a hand toward the door and said with her Brogue, "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron, please, step in." She pushed open the door and held it for the family.

Ken and Kathy finally understood the look of awe on their daughters' face as they were bombarded with a raucous of laughter, shouts and talking. As they followed their young daughter into the pub they were engulfed in the cloud of smoke that hung in the air. It held a certain place in Ken's heart to see everyone sitting around, discussing this, that and the other over a pint of God knows what that wizards drink.

Anna saw all different types of people and, well, things she didn't know. They were all different shapes and colours and disfigurements. She smiled at the Irish, if she got her accents right, family that had turned to see the new comers. They smiled politely back at her, the young boy sitting at the table giving her a jaunty wave before turning back to their conversation.

"Follow me," the enigmatic witch – as that's what she is – beckoned to the family. She wove through the crowd until she walked into what seemed a back closet. The three were confused, but followed in anyway.

The closet was small, but fit them all quite fine, as McGonagall, Kathy and Anna were quite small. It was made of brick – something which Anna thought was customary in London – and was just as dingy, if not more so, as the pub they had just left. Because Anna was behind McGonagall, she did not see the witch tap her wand on the bricks, at just the right spot, but she did see the bricks moving at their own accord. This was the first true display of magic that Anna had ever seen; it was surreal to be seeing it. As the bricks moved to form an archway, she was able to peek from behind the folds of McGonagall's cloak to see the Alleyway beyond.

It was packed with people, almost all in multicoloured cloaks like McGonagall's; though there were none quite so green. They all moved with a purpose in and out through the different shops. The shops were _really_ cool to Anna: they were all built in the olden time style that she had seen in renaissance or whatever they're called movies. The stores second floors leaned over the streets, jutting out at random here and there, and the store fronts boasted bright, icky and beautiful wares. She could see one store that had a whole bunch of owls, OWLS, outside of it, and another that was bright purple and held bright posters that moved, changing from one ad to another.

"This is amazing," Anna whispered in shock. It was almost an overload to see so much magic being shown at once. She tugged at her lip in worry, fretting that she wouldn't be able to fit in such a fantastic world. She knew that she stood out in her normal clothes, a baggy red t-shirt with a white Canadian flag on it, black leggings which bagged in odd places and scuffed black Keds.

McGonagall seemed to sense this worry, and placed a hand reassuringly on the young girls shoulder, "Don't fret my dear." Her voice was stern, but Anna could hear that comfort that she was trying to bring, and stopped worrying her poor lip. "Now, let's go to Gringotts, as we have much to buy today." With that said she ushered the family away.

The Hall's, with the exception of Ken (but he had always been of a peculiar sort), were quite a down to earth kind of people, but being in the company of Goblins tends to make ones values sway a bit. As how can you say that Goblins, Ghouls, Ghosts and the sort do not exist when they are standing, if elevated, in front of you? So it was not a pleasant trip that they spent at Gringotts, and to be honest, McGonagall was right there with them. She may not be prejudice towards the Goblins, but they were nasty buggers if you asked her. So they were all thankful to be back out into the Alley that was thrown in a gray light, as it is on dreary days in London, to begin their shopping.

"So, I know you must be bursting with questions about the wizarding world, as well as about Hogwarts, and so I will lead off with the basics and then answer any questions that you feel necessary to be answered." McGonagall stated to the young family as she lead them into Flourish and Blots.

"Yeah, that would ease our minds," Kathy said to the stern witch, she wasn't sure she liked her, but would ask Anna of her opinion later. As Anna had a tendency to be right about people after she first meets them.

"Can you fly?" Ken asked excitedly, completely bypassing the fact that McGonagall said she would ask questions only after she had said the basics.

His wife slapped him upside the head which caused a resounding, "Ow," but he complied to shut up after the glare she sent him. Rubbing his head, he resigned himself to listen to the boring things.

"Well," the old witch began, pushing open the door to the bookstore, "first I'll start with Hogwarts." She paused as they all entered. "Hogwarts students are separated into four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Huffelpuff and Slytherin. Those sorted into each house has a great amount of whatever each house values, like a Gryffindor usually has a great amount of Bravery. Throughout the year, students try to win house points to win the House Cup at the end of year feast..." She continued on to describe punishments, classes and, eventually, Quidditch as they bought the books that Anna needed for her classes.

Walking toward the next shop, which Ken was not enthused about – it was a Madam Malkins' – he listened intently to McGonagall as she described Quidditch, which seemed like an amazing sport. "There are seven players in total on a team: one keeper, two beaters, three chasers and a seeker. The chasers pass a ball, called the Quaffle, to each other while avoiding the other teams chasers and the Bludgers, which are nasty buggers that have a mind of their own but are slightly controlled by the beaters, and then try to get a goal through one of the three hoops which the Keeper is guarding." Ken looked ready to burst with a question and the stern look on McGonagall's face cracked a bit and the hilarity of it. "Ah, yes, I can see you're ready to ask about the seeker Mr. Hall.

"The seeker has the most important job in the game. The seeker has to catch the Golden Snitch. The Snitch is about the since of a... wolf ball?" McGonagall paused, trying to find the right word for the muggle comparison.

Anna knew what she was talking about, as she had been hanging on to every word, trying to figure out if she could actually find a sport that she liked in this world. "Like a Golf ball you mean."

McGonagall's eyes brightened and she smiled at the young girl, whose hair was in slight disarray from trying on the various robes that she needed for school. "Ah, yes, golf ball; only the Snitch has wings and is wicked fast, making it near impossible to catch. The seeker to catch the Snitch ends the game and wins a total of 150 points for their team. So it is vitally important for the Seeker to be good, but without a good team all around it won't matter how good your team is."

Once Kathy paid for the robes, which were too expensive in her opinion, especially since she knew her daughter would grow at least another three inches during her time away, but she didn't question it. They went to the potions store, where McGonagall told them about the Ministry, which is "way better than the fools who were running it two decades ago," and Ken managed to get a batch of toad eyes dumped on him by some Hag. It was quite funny to see her rough and tumble, "I ate spiders for breakfast and chocolate covered ants for snacks" husband jumping up and down shuddering and sputtering at the slimy eyes that decorated his pressed button down shirt.

Finally, after being in the Alley for four hours, they made their way to the shop that Anna wanted to go to most: Olivanders. Its faded gold lettering, and established date, which Anna thought for sure couldn't be really, added to the pressure of old magic that she felt exuding from the store.

As she pushed the wooden door open, with the three adults following, a chime of a bell seemed to alert the shop owner. "Ah," the light mystical voice called among the stacks of boxes. "Pleasure to be meeting you Miss Hall."

Anna noticed, before the others, the silently gliding form of an old man in the shadows. He wasn't very tall, and his silver hair seemed to stick out in all random directions and even be balding in some areas; however, it was his eyes, which she could she even from that distance that seemed to hold her. His eyes were almost pure silver, barely any black pupil or whites; they were disconcerting and mesmerizing at the same time. He gave her a small smile before stepping out from the shadow of the boxes. She could feel all three adults jump, and was quite proud of herself to have noticed him first.

"Please step forward Miss Hall," the soft voice called, as he gestured for her to stand before the counter. "Which is your wand arm?" As he asked this a tape measure zoomed up and started to measure her height, legs, arms, and so on.

Anna, greatly distracted by the tape, which was moving by itself, answered without thinking, "My right, sir." When she realized what she'd said, she hoped that her righting hand would be the same as her wand arm.

"Ah, yes, yes, hmm..." Mr. Olivander, as that is who he must be, muttered under his breath as he searched the stacks of boxes. He found a box, began to pull it out, then muttered again, "No, no, hmm, I wonder, no, nope." This went on for a while, and the measuring eventually stopped measuring her after figuring out the dilation of her pupils.

Anna looked at the three adults. Her mom and dad were sitting on a chair in the corner, well her dad was sitting on it and her mom was on his lap, and Professor McGonagall was staring at Olivander with a perplexed expression. Anna was under the impression, if McGonagall's expression was anything to go by, that this was not the normal sort of behaviour. Shrugging it off she turned back around to see Olivander walking back toward her with a very dusty – but what wasn't dusty in that shop – box. He pulled off the top and gently removed the shimmering fabric which seemed to keep the dust away from the wand. He inclined the wand box toward Anna, and she peeked inside.

The wand that lay in the box was exquisite: it twirled and knotted, very much like Celtic knots, but a bit more eloquent. It was a light, almost ash colour and it seemed to glow with a white light around it. She reached in hesitantly, which Mr. Olivander nudged it closer to her. The moment she touched the wand, she saw the white light grow, and encase her body. It didn't blind her, but instead filled her with warmth, and with a sort of fulfillment. It was if she wasn't completely whole before that moment, or that she hadn't really seen life as it should be. When the glow dimmed – it dimmed, but did not leave – she saw things differently.

She had always felt as though she could feel the tremblings of magic in the air, but now they were as clear as day. They pulsed in the air, and a different glow, with a different spectrum of light shone from every box. Mr. Olivander himself was encased in a lovely mysterious (and how could it not be?) silver aura that was as mesmerizing as he himself was. She turned to look at McGonagall, and was surprised by the rose pink glow that circled her. She had power, much power, but it was closely contained.

When she turned back to Olivander, he asked "Is that the wand?" She heard a shocked gasp from McGonagall, and knew straight off that it wasn't a normal question asked by him.

"Yes, sir." She said quietly. She could tell that the wand, Ash, 14 inches, slightly swishy with a Dragon Heartstring core was the wand for her. She could tell, as the information seemed to be given to her by the wand. _Odd,_ she thought, but she didn't mind much. She loved her wand.

"That is a very strange wand Miss Hall," he told her, not paying any mind to the other's in the shop. "Very powerful, and it has a mind almost to itself. Treat it well Miss Hall." With that he walked back into the shadows calling back to the foursome, "You may take it free of charge."

* * *

McGonagall was muttering as they went back through the Alleyway to the pub. She had never seen Mr. Olivander act in such a way before and to say that the wand had almost a mid to itself. It was preposterous! And the way that Miss Hall hadn't been able to part herself with it, seeming to cling to it, was odd indeed. She wondered what Miss Hall would bring to Hogwarts, and to the wizarding world itself.

* * *

As the group sat down to have a bit to eat, Anna didn't let herself let go of her wand, she even asked McGonagall to transfigure her a holder that she could put around her right forearm. Now the wand was warm against her skin, and seemed to hum with contentedness. She knew, just knew, that it was not normal, but she didn't mind, especially since the pulsing magic that she had seen so clearly before slowly disappeared until the world was normal again. She didn't miss seeing the disconcerting swirling colours.

Picking at the food – she wasn't quite sure about English food, or wizard food for that matter, yet – she wondered what it would be like to go to school and learn magic. She couldn't wait. She was happy in the wizarding world, or at least, in Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron, as they were both vivacious and homey. They did not strive to be steel and cold and she loved that about the places she had seen. Besides she found the smells of smoke that drifted in the air; so much different from the acrid smell of tobacco.

After they had finished all they could eat, they left the dingy pub and was again in Muggle London. They traversed the busy streets, and were again at their hotel. It wasn't an enjoyable trip back, especially with the bulging packages that they all carried, well expect for McGonagall.

At the lobby, which looked too clean and detached for Anna's standards, McGonagall bid them a tart, "Good day." Then she strode out of the hotel and was gone as soon as they blinked.


End file.
